In recent years, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) technologies have emerged as a fast-growing market. Among the various WLAN technologies, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard is the dominating technology and is frequently used for WLANs. The IEEE 802.11 standard includes operations in one or more bands (such as the 2.400-2.500 GHz band and/or the 4.915-5.825 GHz band), and multiple channels within each band.
Client devices within WLANs wirelessly communicate with network devices. A client device may communicate with a network device to obtain access to a network resource. Alternatively, a client device may receive broadcast data from a network device, even if the client device had not requested access to a network resource. The client device may connect to the network resource only in response to a request or trigger. Network devices, such as access points, are digital devices that may be communicatively coupled to one or more networks (e.g., Internet, an intranet, etc.). Network devices may be directly connected to the one or more networks or connected via a controller. A network device, as referred to herein, may include a wireless Access Point (AP) that communicates wirelessly with devices using Wi-Fi, WiGig, Zigbee, Bluetooth or related standards and that communicates with a wired network. A network device may provide a wireless coverage area, within which devices may wirelessly connect to a network through the network device.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.